Rising Costs Closing Restaurants Down?
by Clover Ng
@ 27 Dec 2013
As the economy changes, not only are the consumers affected, even restaurant or food stalls owners are faced with rising costs, challenging their ability to survive. We have heard of some stalls closing down due to unreasonable price hike in rental this year, like the famous duck rice stalls. This should be a concern to many where food is such an essential part of survival, and much more to people who look forward to having good food. With more and more of our comfort food stalls closing down, what kind of future will the food and beverage industry behold? Just like Laksania, one of Singapore’s first food and beverage social enterprises where 60 percent of her staffs suffer from mental or physical disabilities. Although founder Sim Sin Sin held a bright career future as chief operating officer of another name, she has given up the title and her family’s landed property in exchange for getting her social enterprise up and running. However, she is now facing financial difficulties in trying to sustain this enterprise. Are we doing enough as consumers to keep our favourite ‘past time’ up and running for generations? Are we following the trend of cafés and restaurants hopping blindly?